Stunning Alex Godfrey double not enough for Magpies (From Dorset Echo)

Stunning Alex Godfrey double not enough for Magpies

5:00pm Monday 11th March 2013 in Sport By David Williams, Sports Reporter

BEMERTON HEATH QUINS 4 DORCHESTER TOWN RESERVES 3

HIS side may have conceded twice in the last 15 minutes to lose a seven-goal thriller but manager Dave Kiteley was proud of the young Magpies in defeat.

The visitors finished the Wyvern Premier League encounter with five 16 year olds on the pitch with four of them having completed the full 90 minutes.

First-team call-ups and a growing injury list forced Kiteley into naming a younger than usual starting line-up with Jordan Tewkesbury, debutant Jack Jones, Milo Shackleford and Liam Shingler – all 16 – getting the nod.

And they dominated the first half an hour with two spectacular Alex Godfrey strikes putting them in control before the hosts levelled courtesy of a couple of goals from set pieces.

Dan Peart restored the Magpies’ lead in the second half, however, a penalty, which Kiteley described as an “absolutely terrible” decision and then a stunning overhead kick two minutes from time gave a far more experienced Bemerton the win.

“It was hard on the lads because all in all it was a very encouraging performance given that the side we had out at one stage in the second half had five 16 year olds in it,” said Kiteley, who brought on the fifth of those youngsters, Adam Wash, with 20 minutes left.

“After being pegged back to 2-2 I thought we would have crumbled but I was very proud of them because they upped the tempo and stuck to their principles and tried to play football.

“But football can be harsh and they will learn from it. Jordan Tewkesbury was one player who didn’t deserve to be on the end of four goals.”

Speaking about the pattern of the match, he added: “We dominated for two periods of the game and scored two cracking goals through Alex Godfrey in the opening 30 minutes.

“But we were undone by two set pieces in the last 15 minutes of the first half. Jordan made an outstanding double save before they got their second but we were naive in how we defended both goals.

“We dominated again for the first half an hour after the break and played some good football and went 3-2 up.

“Then we had three glorious chances to kill the game off through Jack Jones, Milo and Jack Valier but we didn’t though if we had gone 5-2 up no-one could have complained.

“Then they were given a very soft penalty which I think the referee got completely wrong. It was an absolutely terrible decision and even their player got up laughing which made it worse.

“That made it 3-3 and their tails were up and in fairness their fourth was a goal worthy of winning any game.”

Kiteley was also delighted with the news that Josh Tennant had made his debut for the first team against Boreham Wood and said he would also like to see Will Gape get a chance before end of the season.

Magpies: Tewkesbury, Diment, Shingler, Brooks, Butcher, Peart, Jones, Gape, Shackleford, Godfrey, Vallier (Wash 70). Subs not used: Kimber, Whalley.